Sustainability Committee Public Meeting

Meeting discussion items:

1. January meeting minutes approval

2. Bird City designation – committee and application

3. Green Lecture series with library – first one will be May 18th with a talk by Deb Portney about birds and World Migratory Bird Day

4. Green Expo – it will be held on Saturday, April 20th at Memorial Park; lots of early interest from past participants, plus have some new exhibitors that I contacted from the Climate Summit.

5. Outreach sub-committee report – preparation for Wellness Expo; thoughts going forward for 2024 Green Expo; thoughts on public education campaign, especially regarding citizen education on trees, outreach and social media?

6. Pollinator demonstration gardens – Memorial Park garden maintenance volunteer sign-up; Village of Foxfield eyebrow and circle planting – plants look great; thistle is still an issue at the circle, and Cindy will talk to the Public Works crew about removing the liriope on the eyebrow this spring.

7. Compost project – two more compost bins available for purchase at municipal center; we have one for this year’s Green Expo. Community compost bin is still getting great use.

8. Tree plantings – tree planting maintenance/inventory schedule (see below); letter of support sent for SilvoCulture grant request – haven’t heard anything yet?; Healthy Forests, Healthy Waters tree planting will take place this spring; McClintock Distillery employees will be planting 60+ trees at Remsberg Park on March 8th; Arbor Day tree planting will be Friday, April 26th at Remsberg Park where we will plant 50 trees; we will plan to do free tree give away again this year as well.

9. Chesapeake Bay Trust grant – we were awarded $2,000 for a plaque and educational materials in relation to the Wye Oak tree planted on East Green Street! We will plan to do the plaque unveiling on Arbor Day.

10. Tree trails – Jim Roessler is working on text for Cone Branch tree trail. New trees to add to Wiles Branch tree trail – white ash and black willow.

11. Tree City USA – State coordinator review has been completed for Tree City application; next is Arbor Day Foundation review.

12. Gift Tree Program – Adam Stanzione might be submitting an application, and there is potential for another application being submitted.

13. Recycling event – next event is March 9th, thanks to those who have said they can volunteer that day; we also have high school students who will volunteer again as well as the Girl Scout.

14. Trex plastic bag collection – we can still take plastic bags to MES.

15. Battery recycling at the Municipal building – we have one high school student helping out that is very committed; he is also planning some battery drives at the high school.

16. Solar panel study for property adjacent to water tank off Layla has been approved.

17. Water conservation and resiliency plans for major town users (Mark)

18. Frederick County Sustainability Commission meeting – municipal green team forum set for 5-7pm on February 21st; RSVP’s due on the 14th; agenda includes understanding each jurisdictions needs and break-out sessions related to opportunities and barriers to success.

19. Bee City – annual report is due at the end of the month; will be submitted by the 21st.

20. Middletown Health and Wellness Expo – March 2 from 10am – 2pm at the Middletown Firehall Activities Center

21. March meeting date – third Tuesday – March 19th – First Day of Spring!